I reasoned that it's only a 5 hour drive from Lafayette, plus the kids are all getting old enough to appreciate and behave at places like this. Plus, it's fun to get away some times, even if just for a few days.
So, off we went on Wednesday morning. I had booked a house right on the Mississippi River through VRBO. It was right across the river from Nauvoo (in Montrose, Iowa), but it was big and cheap and came with river kayaks. Score! (Here's a link to the house, in case you're wondering what it looked like. I didn't take any pictures.)
We pulled up around 3pm, and the first thing I noticed was that the front of the house was COVERED in mayflies. Erlack. Seriously, these things were everywhere!
Then we had a heck of a time getting the front door to open - the lock was a bit messed up. But we did, and walked into... a steamy, hot, kinda smelly house. Oh boy.
But.
We turned on the air conditioners (all window units), unpacked, and settled in. And you know what? It wasn't so bad! And the view was awesome.
Yep, right across from the Nauvoo Temple. Of course, this is a fairly zoomed in picture. But still. And there was a telescope that you could look through that Cole fell in love with. (Eighth birthday present idea? I think so.)
We had planned on spending the afternoon in the river, but no dice. It rained and rained. And once it did stop raining it cooled off considerably, which was actually kinda weird because it usually just gets steamier after rain storms in the Midwest. But no complaints from us! (Well, at least Lance and I. We weren't as in love with the idea of getting in the river as the kids were.)
We grilled up some hot dogs and hamburgers for dinner (because we have a ton left over from the 4th!), and decided we'd go to a park instead. There was a nice one right on the river a couple of miles away. (As you can tell from the picture, the park was a bit downriver from the temple!)
The playground was really cool. But Tess FREAKED OUT when she saw some spiderwebs on it and refused to go near it at all. That girl has developed a bit of arachnophobia lately, which is no good considering where she lives. (Mental note: never let Tess look above the tiles in the drop ceiling in our basement. Spider central.)
The park was right on the Mormon Trail and had a couple of signs and stuff that explained that the Saints crossed the river from Nauvoo to around this spot and then started their journey to Winter Quarters in Iowa.
There was a little dock and then a peninsula thingy right next to it. (I'm sure there's some technical river name for it, but I'm not a river person. HA! I just Googled "man made peninsula thing next to docks" and learned that it's called a jetty. What an age we live in.)
Anyways.
We walked out on the jetty. I tried to get a picture of all 4 kids but Tess was being a punk so it was just the 3 boys. It was all I could do to get them to hold still because they all wanted to throw rocks in the water. Then we decided the rock thing probably wasn't a good idea. Then Spencer accidentally threw a rock and it hit ME, and then we abolished all rock throwing.
And then we had Spencer take a picture of Lance and I, only he was taking forever and in the middle of it Josh threw a rock and got banished to the mini van. He left in a huff and Spencer took our picture and can't you just feel what a happy, loving family we are?! (p.s. That white building inbetween us in the temple.)
Josh eventually got let out of the van, but he sure was grouchy! (Which would be his default mood for the rest of the trip...)
Oh, I did take one picture at the house. Here's what Cole did 50% of the time we were there.
The next morning we all woke up early because we were on Indiana time and because the beds weren't that comfortable. (Actually, our bed wasn't that bad - just small. When you're used to a king, a full just doesn't cut it.) We drove out to Fort Madison and stopped at Subway to get some sandwiches for lunch. (Sometimes you just don't want to haul out all the stuff to make sandwiches...) Then we crossed this weird draw bridge that goes from Fort Madison to Niola, IL, and were surprised to learn there was a $2 toll. Some kid was the toll booth attendant, and his pick up was parked right behind the toll booth. And this bridge had sharp turns on it - definitely a weird bridge!
Anways, we finally made it to Nauvoo, and our first stop was the temple. Unfortunately, the sun was behind it so we couldn't get any good pictures of the whole building with us in front. And then we forgot to go back in the afternoon. So no family pictures in front. Dang. But a few of the kids in random spots!
It's just a beautiful building. So much history behind it.
Just really wanted a picture in front - kinda cool with the sunburst!
I love being on temple grounds. It was nice to walk around and enjoy the pretty flowers and look at all the neat symbolism on the building. I also really liked the Hyrum and Joseph Smith Memorial statue, and the kids were quite impressed with it as well. I think it's just so pretty, and so well placed right on the bluff overlooking the river valley. (No pictures, though. Too busy enjoying it.)
After that we went down to the Historic Nauvoo Visitor's Center. I can't remember all that happened there (because I have blocked it from my memory), but for some reason Josh got ticked off about something and was just a PILL. Seriously, so ill-tempered. To the point that by the time we were done with the visitor's center and back out at the car putting on sunscreen, I decided we all needed a family prayer so we'd make it through the rest of the day. So we said a prayer. And we survived.
Barely.
Josh whined pretty much all day long. And not just whined. Complained about every little thing. It drove me nuts. I tried to stay patient, but it was hard. (And by the end of the day? No more patience. GROWL.)
But.
It was not all bad. We had fun going through all the buildings and learning about how the Saints lived back then. The kids especially enjoyed the homemade bread at the Living Center and the free cookie at the bakery. Basically, give them free goodies and they're happy campers. (Even Josh didn't complain about the cookies. Score!)
We spent a bit of time before lunch at the Pioneer Pastimes area, where you could dress up and play all sorts of fun games. Tess went straight to the dress up clothes...
... let me take a few pictures, and then got straight out of them because it was hot! She was so cute, though. The boys were sticks in the mud and wouldn't dress up. Sadness.
Spencer tried out the stilts.
As did Josh. He wasn't able to master them, which only improved his mood. Oy.
They have a brass band that goes around and plays and they stopped and had all the little kids join in with chimes. It was super cute. (Only Tess would do it. Spencer and Josh were too cool/angry and Cole was too busy playing.)
They loved this table bowling set. Cole also really loved the bear climbing toy - the one where the wooden bear is on two ropes and you have races to see who can get their bear to the top first. You know, that one. (I don't feel like Googling again. You do it.)
Josh and I went to go get the car and our lunch. I got him to be a little happier by sitting in the front seat on the drive to meet the rest of the family, but his mood didn't last. Yeargh.
The gunsmith was a popular stop with the boys. Our tour guide was this grumpy old missionary who really knew his stuff and had a wry sense of humor you really had to pay attention to catch. I liked him.
We went to a bunch of other houses, and the kids were actually pretty good. There were complaints and lots of bathroom stops, but on the whole not TOO bad. We of course made a stop at the brickyard and got our obligatory Nauvoo brick, which Josh claimed as his own and was so proud about it. And then he forgot it in the school house, but fortunately we found right away or it would have been THE END OF THE WORLD. Also, my favorite part of the school house tour was the phonetic spellings of random words they showed us. (Apparently when you have people from all over the world showing up in Nauvoo in the 1800's, correct spelling was not strictly enforced.) Our favorite was "bertaytoe" = potato. Pretty sure from now on they will be known as "bertatoes" in the Madsen home.
Anywho, after the brick yard Lance went to go claim seats for us at the pageant area and we went to the Lucy Mack Smith home.
Lucy's home has the steepest staircase in Historic Nauvoo - it was pretty impressive. (Just shy of being a glorified ladder, in my opinion!)
Cole was quite taken with that staircase and with his latest new vocabulary word: steep. For 15 minutes after that home all we heard was "Those stairs were so STEEP!"
We went to lots of other buildings, but I didn't take any pictures; it's all kind of a blur. We ended with the printing house, but only Tess and I lasted. (The boys left the tour early because of bad attitudes and bathroom emergencies.) ((I feel like I should clear that up: the boys had those issues, not Lance.)) So Tess and I stayed for the tour, but she was pretty much done as well and I had to hold her the whole time. This is a shame because I really wanted to learn more about the printing press and stuff - I studied this kind of thing in college. Oh well.
We drove down to the Smith Family Historic Sites, but didn't want to have a tour guide from the Community of Christ people. (Side note for people who aren't Mormon: first of all, congrats on making it this far through a very Mormony blog post. Second, the Community of Christ is the latest name for the Reformed LDS church, which was a church formed after Joseph Smith died. There's a whole lotta history there that I don't want to go into because I have to get this post done before bedtime. For some reason, the Community of Christ church owns the land and buildings for where Joseph and his family lived, as well as where they're buried.) So anywho, we walked around a few of the sites and the cemetery, but we were worn out. Plus, the spirit is different there. It really is. I remember feeling the same way when we went to Nauvoo 10 years ago. It just feels different. I hope the Church is able to get those sites back again some day.
Anyways, at this point it was late in the day, but not late enough for dinner. (We had 6pm reservations.) And the 30 minute drive "home" wasn't an option. So we went to the end of the Trail of Hope and threw rocks in to the Mississippi. (I stayed far away from Spencer this time!) We were all very impressed by the large river barge that went by - it's hard to see in this picture, but it's there!)
For dinner we ate at the "world famous" Hotel Nauvoo. Yeah, there aren't a lot of food options in Nauvoo. It was pricey but yummy. Everyone really enjoyed the buffet. Well, everyone but Josh. That kid. He complained the whole meal. And Spencer looked really awkward at this exact moment.
Cole had a heaping plate of ham, corn, and fried chicken. That plus a rootbeer = Coley happiness.
A little rough housing at a restaurant? Of course.
After dinner it was time for the County Fair, which was full of pioneer games and activities for the kids. It was actually really cool, but we were all getting tired. Tess and Cole loved it, so we just tried to keep up with them. That, and ignore Josh's constant complaining and whining. Seriously, at one point I tried to "lose" him just to get a few minutes of peace. It didn't work. He found me. And complained about it.
Lance and Cole sawing a log. Pretty cool.
And a sack race! (Doesn't Spencer's face look funny?!) You could get a plastic bead at each activity, and if you got 10 beads you could earn a fancy wooden bead. Tess earned hers by taking her brothers' beads. Then Cole decided he needed to earn all of his. Oy. We may or may not have cheated in getting all of his.
Stick pulling is always fun.
Tess tried so hard!
So did Josh.
But then he gave up. And complained about losing.
It was really crowded! But still fun. And hot and sticky. Okay, we weren't in the best of moods. But we survived!
It was finally time for the pageant to start. I was proud of myself for remembering to bring the glow sticks for the kids. (I knew they would need something to entertain themselves during the pageant and I was right. They were the perfect diversion!) About 5 minutes before the pageant started I realized I had left my phone in the bathroom.
AAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!
So I raced out to the bathrooms, but it wasn't there. So I had to ask several people where the lost and found was. I got headed in the right direction, but this parade of bagpipers and actors blocked my way. No, really. It was like in a movie or something. And then the national anthem started. And once that was done I finally got to the lost and found and the sweet lady had my phone. Hallelujah! I actually wasn't that surprised - when you're at a largely Mormon event, you assume that 99% of all those people are gonna be honest and turn in a lost phone. I was happy to be proven right in my assumption. Then I started to hurry back to my seat, only to be thwarted by the opening prayer. Okay, not thwarted. But running around during a prayer is frowned upon, so I had to stop for that, too.
Finally, I made it back to my seat!
And then we watched the pageant!
And listened to Josh complain about the pageant!
And wondered just how long the pageant lasted!
It was actually pretty good. My favorite part was at the end when the temple was lit up. (It's in the dark in the background the whole time.) But I was glad when it was over - it was late, and we were still running on Indiana time.
On the way back to the car I lost my cool with Josh. It's a good thing we were in public with lots of witnesses. I may or may not have seriously contemplated throwing him into the river. Okay, no. But I did do some yelling. And Lance had to take over the parenting thing because I was DONE.
Lest you think our trip ended badly, it didn't. The next morning we were all much happier. Ready to go home, but happier.
We packed up the car, did some light cleaning, and were on our way! I have a cousin - Brad - who lives in Peoria, so we picked up some pizzas and stopped at his house for lunch. His wife Shanna gave birth to their 2nd baby just 3 weeks ago, but were still willing to see us! (Hence us bringing the pizza - I'm not making a new momma make us lunch!) It was great to see them, even if just for an hour. Baby Miles was cute and Landon (their 6 year old) was happy to have kids to play with.
We got back on the road and finally made it home around 4pm. We were all happy to be home and very happy to be in our own beds that night.
The night of the pageant, as Lance and I were finally getting into bed, he hugged me and said "Thank you for MAKING us do stuff like this."
Hah.
I knew he was trying to give me a compliment, but that "making" stung a little. But as I thought about it, I didn't care. Yes, this trip had it's fair share of unpleasantness. (*cough* Josh *cough*) But I feel like adventures like this are good. I think it's important to learn about our heritage and gain an appreciation for what others have done in the past to bless us today. Did my kids love and listen to every minute of every tour? No. But hopefully they caught a few good things and felt the spirit, as well as enjoyed time with their family. We only have 6 (six!) more years of all of us living together, and that makes family time like this all the more important. So while this may not have been the most fun Madsen family vacation ever, I still feel like it was a success and I'd do it again.
Just maybe not anytime soon.
Or with a 9 year old boy.
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